“Likable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve” by Alison Fragale
So many books geared toward “empowering” women within the workplace keep covering the identical threadbare material. We are speculated to become involved or stay away, raise our voices, speak our minds, and be kind of willing to tolerate the sorts of traditional male and other in-group behaviors that went unchecked for hundreds of years—until about 20 years ago.
Alison Fragale does something different. A “likable go-getter” is a lady who has the appropriate mixture of assertiveness and heat. Fragale focuses her efforts on practical ways to assist her readers gain – and maintain – “status.” This is critically different from being high-ranking or powerful – by specializing in your status, you might help influence others' perceptions of you, no matter where you might be in the company hierarchy. You can influence your status from day one in every of your profession or a brand new job – so that is an awesome book to provide to a recent graduate.
Fragale gives many strategies to extend your status little by little: “small deposits” – doing something for another person and doing something in the method, like sending a colleague a congratulatory email or just sending a friend a message to point out you're considering of them. If that sounds cynical, it's not. Fragale draws on her own experiences in a really natural way.
Some of probably the most useful chapters cope with the form of work that usually falls to women—”non-promotional jobs” within the office, or serving on volunteer committees, school boards, and nonprofits. Rather than advocating for simply turning this stuff down, she suggests forming a considered opinion about whether you might be best suited to the job, asking yourself, “Will this bring joy into my life?”—and probably the most pertinent query, “Who will I meet?” Fragale's book is for anyone who desires to learn the secrets of getting ahead—or just wants to maneuver through life at their very own pace—without being a show-off or a troublesome guy: someone no one respects or likes.
She herself comes across as a thoroughly likeable daredevil – this can be a really original and useful book. (And many men would love it too.)
“Hyperefficient: Optimize your brain to alter the way in which you’re employed,” by Mithu Storoni
When faced with constraints, it’s in our nature to innovate and develop latest tools. But as AI advances and takes over routine tasks, the main focus of experience shifts to ideation, complex learning, and problem solving. This transition requires latest ways of measuring efficiency, prioritizing quality over quantity.
Identifying this shift, ophthalmic surgeon and neuroscientist Mithu Storoni presents a brand new perspective on work efficiency, emphasizing the importance of adapting work patterns to the natural rhythm of the body and mind. She argues that traditional models of continuous, highly productive work are outdated in the trendy digital age, and offers guidance on how we will take our mental performance to latest levels.
Storoni's thesis relies on the concept the brain has different “gears” that could be adjusted depending on the duty at hand. She explains how harmonious use of those mental gears can result in optimal performance.
For example, a low-energy mental state is good for creative considering, while a high-energy state is healthier suited to problem-solving and analytical tasks. By understanding and utilizing these different mental states, individuals could be more efficient without succumbing to burnout.
The creator provides practical tools and techniques to assist readers manage their mental states, personalize their work style based on their “Gear Personality,” and ultimately achieve sustainable efficiency. The overarching message is that true efficiency will not be about working harder, but about working smarter by harnessing the brain's innate rhythms.
“The Vagina Business: The Innovative Breakthroughs That Could Completely Transform Women’s Health,” by Marina Gerner
Are vaginas a business opportunity? Yes, argues Marina Gerner on this optimistic, highly readable account of a growing wave of “femtech” innovations and start-ups. The industry, whose exciting latest technologies aim to enhance women's health and well-being, could possibly be price a trillion dollars, in line with the book, and has the potential to alter many lives.
Gerner defines femtech as innovation that “advances women's health” and “actually improves women's well-being.” The revelations inside its pages will surprise some readers greater than others: For various demographics of girls, egg freezing, high-tech breast pumps and period-tracking apps are already the norm.
She walks through a spread of applications and introduces latest products and corporations, from a tool to dilate the cervix for childbirth to latest contraceptives. The book convincingly shows the difficulties faced by women entrepreneurs in securing investment, particularly in “taboo” areas, and problems comparable to medical bias that hinder studies. Gerner's often personal narrative is wealthy with examples and colourful characters.
Some readers may find the book not critical enough, nonetheless. While Gerner is skeptical of some technologies, she is open about their potential to enhance women's lives. This can seem slightly contradictory: when she reports on maternal mortality, for instance, she describes enormous socioeconomic and racial inequalities that contribute to women dying in childbirth. The concept that a brand new app could fundamentally reduce these tragedies subsequently seems slightly tenuous.
Even if you happen to don't agree with the optimistic notion of a femtech “revolution,” the book offers an insightful have a look at a technology and business area that’s prone to turn out to be increasingly vital within the lives of lots of us.
“Taming Silicon Valley: How to Make AI Work for Us,” by Gary F. Marcus
Gary Marcus' latest release has received high praise from tech commentators. Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen called his case “compelling”; 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang said Marcus stays a “principled voice of informed reason… on the side of humanity.” But this comprehensive book offers only a limited, if useful, have a look at one in every of the most important tech problems of our time.
Marcus will not be only an creator, but in addition a scientist and entrepreneur. He goals to point out “concrete steps” toward a “positive AI future.” When he does that, the book is compelling. His succinct summaries of proposed laws are useful, and his “demands” for governments worldwide – including transparency about what data is used to coach AI models, a dedicated U.S. AI agency, and greater liability for damages – seem reasonable. Many of his examples of AI harm are also eye-opening, and avoid the cliches common in so many books about artificial intelligence.
However, Marcus says he wrote the book “at lightning speed,” and unfortunately it shows. Some basic concepts (like AI hallucinations) are explained in quite a little bit of detail, but other terms like “enshitification” (coined by creator Cory Doctorow to explain the decline in quality of online platforms) are thrown in without further explanation. The book can also be peppered with long text quotes and the occasional “I told you so” statement. While these could also be intended to lend the book authority, they could be off-putting.
Writing a manifesto about AI when the sector is changing is brave. It feels timely – but the continuing fog of uncertainty surrounding AI makes the book seem speculative. Marcus appears to be arguing that we don't know what AI is able to, but that it could have serious consequences. Maybe he's right in the long run – but immediately it's hard to say obviously.
